


She Who Laughs Last

by AussieOnyx



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: BAMF Darcy Lewis, Domestic Violence, F/M, Head Injury, Mental Health Issues, Swearing, Tissue Warning, catty parent, family rift, minor mentions of sex, minor racism, passive aggressive slurs, tony doesn't learn, under funded social workers just doing thier jobs, unplanned follow-up
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-02
Updated: 2015-06-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 00:14:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3467294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AussieOnyx/pseuds/AussieOnyx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the longest time, Darcy thought that the tales of horror mothers-in-law were just something Hollywood had made up.</p>
<p>Then she met Sam's mom and discovered where Hollywood found its source material.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a minor little drabble that had been lurking on my hard drive for a few weeks that I'd been pecking at between trying to get my head around the next part of 'Arms and work. Hope you enjoy... it's a bit more light hearted than 'Arms.

There is a stereotypical 'bad mother-in-law' trope that has existed for years. You know the one; where the new girlfriend/fiance/wife is not good enough for Mama's 'baby boy' (and never will be), regardless of how old said 'baby boy' actually is.  
In the movies, the MIL or MIL-to-be will do everything in her power to show that the harlot her son has attached himself to is a tramp/slut/no good cheater/likes to kick puppies for shits and giggles (maybe not so much the last- the humane society usually has things to say about that kind of thing), upto and including sabotage. The ire of the MIL is usually triggered by some banal comment on the part of the son that puts his mother's back up like; 'This soup is even better than Mom's', or, 'Sally's pies are just as good as yours, Mom', and in some rage of petty jealousy, the MIL now feels inadequate and/or superceeded and decides to do something that will, in her mind, return her to the number one spot on her son's list of 'Women to Worship'.

For the longest time, Darcy thought that the tales of horror mothers-in-law were just something Hollywood had made up.

Then she met Sam's mom and discovered where Hollywood found its source material.

**  
They'd met at a party at Stark tower. After being introduced to each other by a slightly tipsy Steve Rogers (Thor had brought some drinks from Asgard and insisted that the Captain match him, drink for drink as they toasted their comrades, past and present), Sam had asked Darcy out for coffee the following morning.  
Laughing at the image of hungover superheroes stumbling about in the search for a headache remedy that sprang into her head, Darcy had agreed- if only to be able to escape the whining for a few hours. She had never been more greatful for the ball of wacky that her life had become than right then- a gorgeous, ripped, normal guy, who could keep up with Captain America (when he wasn't tipsy) was asking her out and not staring at her boobs while doing so. Yes, please and thank-you.

Coffee became lunch which became dinner in one extended date.  
Sam was a gentleman without being a patronising douch canoe. They debated the holes in the current social policies and what it would take to repair them (nuking the senate from orbit... it's the only way to be sure) and the merits of the original, unedited Star Wars (Han shot first) versus the later releases (Hayden Christiansen as a ghost next to Alec Guinness? Really? pfft).  
Darcy felt comfortable, content and all the other happy 'C' words when in Sam's company. There was an instant connection between the two of them that made it feel as though they'd known each other for years and not just twenty-four hours.

That first date with Sam was so good, and the company so engaging, that Darcy didn't look at her phone once.

As the evening gave way to true night, Sam escorted Darcy to her door, agreed to dinner the following evening and parted her company with a chaste kiss to her cheek.  
Darcy was unashamedly grinning like a loon as she kicked off her boots and flopped to her couch. She was still grinning as she got ready for bed hours later.  
Best night ever.

**  
They were five dates into their relationship when the topic of their respective families came up in conversation. There had been mentions in the past; superficial tidbits like the number of siblings each had (Darcy: none, Sam: an older sister), but never in any kind of detail. When the talk eventually move onto their respective parents, Darcy delivered an hour long diatribe about the quirks and dynamics of her relationship with her mom, growing up without a dad and the wonders of being the only girl in her high school who needed a full bra before the end of ninth grade that had them both in stitches of laughter.  
Sam was less forthcoming and that should have been a warning bell to Darcy, but she was so caught up in the new relationship glow that she didn't really pay attention to the lack of detail.

When he said that his mom had been a bit judgemental of his previous girlfriends, Darcy just figured that he was exaggerating. She never would of thought that he was understating the situation. 

 

**  
It was time. There was no getting out of it now. After a year of dating, Sam was finally taking her to meet his family this weekend.  
He'd been acting like a cat stuck in a dog's boarding kennel ever since his mom had called and, as far as Darcy was able to discern (read; eavesdrop), had demanded to meet his 'new' girlfriend that weekend. Or Else.

Being the supportive and understanding girlfriend that she was, Darcy sat Sam down with a bottle of sambuca and made him tell her why he was acting so nervous about something that was a fairly routine step in any relationship.  
After a few shots, the whole story came pouring out. Anecdotes about 'accidentally' spilled drinks, 'forgotten' food allergies, passive aggressive and back-handed statements that might be construed as constructive criticism but were really insults. The list went on. Poor Sam. There had never been one of his girlfriends to last past meeting his mom. She was made of sterner stuff though; Sam was her one and done and no-one would drive her away from him.

After Sam had fallen into a drunken sleep, aided in no small part by Darcy's skills in 'oral reassurance', she did what any child of the 21st century would do; she googled solutions in how to deal with difficult personalities without resorting to violence.

She was going to be the exception to everything.

**  
With Sam clinging to her like a limpet, they entered his parent's house armed with a 'thanks for having me' bottle of wine (she'd checked what brand they liked before buying it) and smiles plastered on their faces.

It started going wrong the minute they stepped foot over the threshold.

Apparently, (according to his mom anyway) Sam's dad had been told at his last general check-up with the Doctor that his liver enzymes had been elevated and had been told to stay away from alcohol for awhile. By the look on Sam's Dad's face, this was news to him. So, needless to say, the wine was not appreciated.

It all just snow-balled from there, but Darcy was determined to stick it out and prove to Sam that she wasn't as weak-willed as the rest of them.

All credit to his Mom though- she was in fine form and seemed to be pulling out every weapon in her arsenal in order to send Darcy running for the hills. There were the back-handed complements (That shirt is lovely on you, I think I saw the same shirt on a lady standing on a street corner the other day...), the 'constructive criticism' (Have you tried the Atkin's diet? My friend Gertie swears by it for acne.), the comparisons to Sam's previous girlfriends- and the irony wasn't lost on Darcy with these (Oh, Janet had the prettiest blue eyes. Do you remember that Sam?) and finally the passive aggressive shots (Oh, but Sam said that you were Jewish, so I don't think you'd be able to understand just how much the church means to us).  
But Darcy just wouldn't bite. She'd met every slur with a polite smile and a topic change- usually by talking to Sam's sister who'd been shooting her sympathetic looks whenever her mom's attention was elsewhere.

After dinner, everyone moved into the family room for coffee. Sam looked like he wanted to be anywhere but in that room and seemed to be counting the minutes until he could politely make their excuses and bolt out the door. Darcy was right there with him, but she wouldn't be the first to conceed defeat. Sam's dad had been silently sulking all through dinner- Darcy suspected that he'd really wanted some of the wine with the meal but had to play along with his wife's excuse.

Sam's mom was looking as though steam was about to come pouring out of her ears; she'd been unable to get Darcy upset enough to leave Sam and it was pissing her off. No way was this little white chit with the big boobs going to take her baby away from her...

The final straw for Darcy came when Sam's mom started talking about Sam's favourite foods when he was younger and how complicated they were to make... and how it must be so hard for Darcy to keep house, what with her career at Stark and all. Poor Sam tried his hardest to come to her defence but wasn't able to get a word in edgeways.

Darcy just smiled, squeezed Sam's hand in the pre-arranged signal that meant it was time to go and as they were standing to leave, turned to his mom and said;

“Sam doesn't seem to care how messy the apartment is, or how badly I burned dinner when I have his cock down my throat. Thank-you for a lovely evening.”

With all the dignity of a princess of Asgard, she walked out of the house with Sam's head buried in the crook of her neck as he tried not to laugh out loud and his mom staring after her doing a very good impression of a goldfish.

He proposed to her that night in bed.  
They eloped to Vegas a week later.


	2. ...Laughs loudest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The unplanned continuation of a story that was supposed to be finished...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was OzHawk's fault. I had no intention of continuing this story until (s/he) they left a comment that sparked a conversational thread and then, boom, plot bunny attack. dammit. So, instead of concentrating in class, I tapped this out. There is fluff, snark, swearing and family in-fighting... so, like real-life. :)  
> Enjoy.

It had been a blissful half year of being married to Sam and avoiding his mother when Darcy realised that she’d missed a period.  


In and of itself, this wasn’t an unusual occurrence for her; the stress from London going bug-nuts resulted in a panicked month thinking that Ian had knocked her up (and wouldn’t have that been a mistake and a half? Fucking HYDRA scum), and before that, she’d managed to sync up with Jane which threw her cycle off. So, not an unusual thing. It took her missing a second period for the alarm bells to start ringing.  
**  


Three hours, two-litres of water and five home pregnancy tests later and Darcy was ninety-eight percent certain that she was pregnant. The remaining two-percent was safely stored in denial-land, hands over ears and humming baa-baa rainbow sheep (even in her own head, PC seeped in. ugh.)  


It wasn’t that she didn’t want kids. Sam was all for starting a family and Darcy knew that he’d be super excited about being a daddy- he’d get all cute and touchy-feely and give her nuclear-level puppy eyes… (Yup, she was gone on him), it was more that she was terrified of screwing the kid up. She was petrified that she’d turn into her mother-in-law and run off any of her kids’ prospective life-partners. She was near catatonic at the thought of that first hospital visit when the kid broke an arm (and it was definitely a ‘when’, not ‘if’ situation with the crazy family she’d inherited). At the same time though, she couldn’t wait to hold her baby. To see what colour his/her eyes changed into. She even wanted to go shopping for baby clothing and coo over how tiny they were.  


Time to book an appointment with the doc to get the official ‘Yup, you’ve got a bun in the oven’ speech. Oh, and she should probably tell her husband that he was going to be holding her hair back for the next few months.  
**  


Sam was ecstatic. He did the pick-up and spin thing with her until the vertigo kicked in and she threatened to barf on him. And how was that fair? Nary a sign of pregnancy related symptoms until after she’d taken the tests, then it was like her brain went, “Well, now that you know about the embryo in your uterus, you can have all the nausea that we’ve been suppressing for you.”  


He’d wanted to tell everyone about the bean-baby straight away. Darcy managed to talk him out of it until after the first trimester had passed as a ‘Just in case’ precaution. She never wanted to see his face make that expression again; like he’d been told that the world was going to end tomorrow, before the end of ‘Game of Thrones’ could air (he was weirdly obsessed with that show- not that she could blame him).  


If she had her way, she’d not tell his mom until after the kid was already walking, but that just wasn’t feasible- the silly season was a couple of months away and she’d likely be showing by then. Maybe she could talk Sam into not saying anything to his family until then; you know, ‘Merry Christmas, you’re going to be a Nanna… in four months’...  
**  


Sam was away doing the world saving thing when Darcy had her four-month scan. He’d had every intention of being with her to find out the gender, but then a HYDRA remnant decided to stir up trouble in Greenland (why Greenland? There was nothing there beyond melting perma-frost.) and he had to miss out. It was at this scan that Darcy found out that she was having twins. The technician was a bit perplexed that the second baby hadn’t been picked up at an earlier scan, but the doc reassured her that sometimes one foetus would hide behind the other. 

Sneaky little shit.  


She was shocked. And pissed. And happy. But mostly shocked. There were no twins on her side of the family, so it had to be Sam’s fault.  


They’d been planning for a singleton- one set of everything, one crib etc. Now they would have to double up on everything. Dammit.  
She’d had Jarvis put her through on the Avengers’ private line so that she could share the news/yell at Sam for having super-efficient sperm. Irrational, yes, but she was allowed to be. Pregnancy had its privileges.  
**  


By the time Christmas rolled around, Darcy was five months along, but looked seven. It wasn’t fair. Only just over half-way done and she already couldn’t see her feet. Sam had been amazing through everything though. He painted her toe-nails, made sure she was wearing matching shoes, gave her compliments when she was feeling like a troll (the myth-style troll, not the internet bully version). He catered to her every craving and was more than happy to roll around in bed with her when the horny-stage kicked in.  


Tony had been making whale jokes until he’d got glared at by both Sam and Steve, now he just avoided her… might have something to do with her convincing DUM-E that Tony’s scotch was actually an accelerant, and that he should use the fire extinguisher on Tony every-time he picked up the bottle, just in case he spontaneously combusted. Teach him to make fun of her.  


She was dreading the get together with Sam’s family. He still hadn’t told them that he was going to be a father, and Darcy was okay with that particular decision.  


Darcy could see it now; the helpful ‘suggestions’ about what she should eat and when, the guilt-trips about not getting the babies baptised (they had a resident god for blessings- why would they need to get water dripped on them?), the slurs about her ‘weight-gain’ up ‘til they told them about the twins. It would be a fun day. Not.  


She’d warned Sam that she wouldn’t be putting up with that kind of behaviour for long; her ability to deal with BS had been decreasing in direct proportion to how fast her belly was increasing. Sam had promised that he’d try to stave it off for as long as possible, but couldn’t make guarantees.  
**  


Just like last time, it was as bad as Darcy had expected.  


There had been a brief, shining moment of family-wide joy, congratulations and Christmas gifts (with a small side of ‘Oh, I didn’t think you’d celebrate being Jewish and all), then it started in earnest.  


She put up with her mother-in-law’s ‘helpful’ suggestions for all of ten minutes before snapping. In all honesty, Darcy was amazed she’d lasted that long.  


“Lady, I don’t give a rat’s ass about your opinions. I’m healthy, the twins are healthy and the pregnancy is progressing normally. I don’t care if you think that I’m Satan’s whore come to corrupt your way of life. That’s on you. You can hate me and think I’m not good enough for Sam, but he does! We covered this last time” Everyone was staring at her; Sam was looking subtly proud of her. “If you continue to behave in such a negative and, frankly, hateful manner, you won’t be welcome in the twins’ life.”  
With that, Darcy turned and found her bag. Sam’s mom was looking flabbergasted. She tried appealing to Sam;  


“Are you really going to let her talk to me that way?”  


Darcy was proud of the look that he gave his mom; like she was something nasty that he’d stepped in.  


“I agree with her, Mom. We’ve been together for nearly three years. We’ve been married for over one. No matter what you do, or say, she’s not going anywhere. If you can’t support us, and somehow find it in yourself to apologise for the abysmal way you’ve spoken to her every-time we see you, then you won’t be a part of our lives. Our children won’t know you.”  


Sam’s mom had tears in her eyes. Darcy squashed the smidgeon of sympathy that was trying to pop up.  


“We’re leaving. I hope to see you and your new attitude when the twins arrive.”  
**  


In the car on the way back to the hotel, Sam was very quiet.  


“I’m sorry, Sam. That couldn’t have been easy for you.”  


Sam glanced over to her before turning his eyes back to the road.  


“You have nothing to be sorry for Darcy. I should be apologising to you for exposing you to her poison.”  


She didn’t want to be the cause of a rift between Sam and his family, but she wasn’t going to have her children think that it was alright to be judgemental about other people. It struck her as ironic that she felt safer raising her children around a bunch of heroes that fought regularly, random explosions and rogue AIs than with her husband’s family.  


“I won’t be upset if you wanted to stay in touch with her. I’d even understand if you did.”  


Sam smiled at her.  


“I appreciate that Darcy, but I won’t back down on this. I’ve had enough of her attitude towards you and that isn’t the kind of example I want for our kids.”  


She waited until he was stopped at a red light before giving him a kiss on the cheek.  


“I love you, Sam Wilson.”  


“I Love you too, Darcy Lewis-Wilson.”  
**  


“I fucking hate you, Sam Wilson! You’re never coming near me again!”  


“Breathe, Darce.”  


“Screw you. You breathe.”  


Bruce was staring at them in between checking how far Darcy had progressed and trying not to laugh out loud.  


“Next contraction, Darcy, start pushing.”  


Sam was sitting behind her, helping to hold her legs and generally trying to be supportive. She knew that she was acting like a raging hell-beast, but the hormones and pain were smothering any rationality she may have once possessed.  


“Tell me again why I said ‘no’ to an epidural?” She gasped between contractions.  


“There is no way in hell I’m answering that one. Not long now Darcy.”  
**  


It took twenty hours of labour, cursing like a sailor and Bruce’s suppressed chuckles, but the twins were here.  


Only an hour old and they already had their daddy wrapped around their (really) tiny fingers. Caleb Riley had been first born and was happy to let the world know just how _unhappy_ he was about the whole ‘being born’ thing. His sister arrived an hour later. Where Caleb was loud and obvious, Jessica Jane was quiet. She’d been the sneaky twin who’d hid behind her sibling at the early ultrasounds. Darcy knew she was going to have to watch that one…  


All of the Avengers and their significant others had popped in for a few minutes to say hi to the new additions to their misfit family before leaving them to bond. Tony still hadn’t learned his lesson and brought the twins a gigantic teddy-bear each- seriously, those things were taller than Thor.  


Darcy was really feeling a nap… and a shower… and a coffee. Not necessarily in that order.  


After their first feed, Sam had grabbed both babies and was sitting next to Darcy’s bed, grinning like a loon. If she weren’t so wiped out, Darcy would think it was adorable.  


“Did you call your parents?”  


Sam looked up from taking a finger inventory and gave her a sad smile.  


“I called my sister. She can tell them.”  


“Sam…”  


“No, Darcy. Until she can apologise, Mom is just going to have to live with second-hand information.”  


“Okay.” She smiled back. “Now, put those babies in their crib and get in here with me. I need a hug and a proper kiss.”


	3. Rifts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bitter-sweet finale... no, really.. this is the last one for this tale...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> F*n' plot bunny came back with a friend. Angst abounds. Tissue warning for the end.

She knew that it was going to end badly the minute that complaint crossed her desk.  


However, DCP had an obligation to at least investigate all complaints to see if they had merit- that and if word got out to media that a complaint was ignored then the media shit-storm would roll right over her as well as the department. No one wanted that kind of publicity; they were already over-worked, under-staffed and underfunded with an area of care that covered all of the state of New York, not just Manhattan.  


Normally, she’d go to a visit of inquiry with a partner, but Jason was off sick this week and the people that the complaint was levelled at lived in one of the most secure buildings in the country, if not the world.  
**  


Alison stepped out of the car, clipped her ID badge to her jacket, took a deep breath, strapped the mental steel to her back-bone and walked into the foyer of Stark tower.  


Stepping up to the reception and enquiries desk, she waited for the attention of one of the receptionists. She wasn’t going to get impatient- they were clearly busy and she really, really hated it when people got cranky for no real reason.  


It was only about a minute when she was greeted.  


“Good Morning Ma’am. Welcome to Stark Tower. How may I help you?”  


The receptionist’s badge declared her name was ‘Amber’.  


“Good Morning, Amber. My name is Alison Slater and I’m with the DCP. I was wondering if I might be directed to the Lewis-Wilson residence.” As Alison placed her ID badge on the desk, she could see Amber flush with momentary panic. Oh, this was going to end well.  


“Please have a seat Ms Slater. Someone will be with you shortly.” Amber gestured to the lushly appointed waiting area a few feet from the reception desk.  


“That’s okay, Amber. If you could just tell me what floor I can find the Lewis-Wilson residence, then I can get there myself.”  


“I’m sorry, Ms Slater. No-one is permitted entry to the residential floors without either an appointment and escort or the correct security clearance. Please have a seat and someone will be with you shortly.”  


Someone had trained her well in assertive communication. Knowing when she’d been beat, Alison sat down on a cushy wing-back and waited.  


It was only a few minutes before an armed, black uniformed Stark security officer wandered over to where she was and gestured for Alison to accompany him. She was handed a visitors badge and walked over to an elevator. Alison couldn’t help but feel as though she were being treated like the enemy in a spy movie as she clipped the badge next to her DCP ID.  


The security guard, who’s ID patch declared ‘Bentley’, pushed the button for level five and stood there like a statue as the elevator climbed and when the doors opened, gestured again for her to follow him.  
After showing her to what looked like a conference room, the officer briskly stated that Ms Potts would be with her shortly and to take a seat. He then closed the door.  


Yup, this was going swimmingly.  
**  


Her watch said that she’d been waiting for ten minutes when the door opened again and Ms Potts walked in with her assistant scurrying behind her. Alison caught sight of Bentley standing by the door.  


After a few instructions, the assistant left and one of the most powerful women on the planet turned her attention to Alison. It was a little intimidating- even for someone who stared down gang-members on the regular.  


“Ms Slater, I’m sorry about the wait.”  


“It’s fine, Ms Potts. I’m actually here to see Mr Wilson and or Mrs Lewis-Wilson.”  


Alison watched as the pleasant expression changed to hardened resolve. This was the Pepper Potts that ruled the business world with an iron fist.  


“I see. Unfortunately, Ms Slater, both of those individuals are on parental leave. Without a very good reason, I can’t let you interrupt them and I certainly won’t let you go wandering around the tower to find them yourself.”  


Figuring it was better to level with her than try to get into a pissing contest that she knew she’d lose without a court order, Alison sighed in resignation.  


“Look, Ms Potts, my office received a complaint about child endangerment levelled at the Lewis-Wilsons. While I sincerely doubt that the complaint has merit- if only based on what it’s taken to get to this point, I have to investigate it to the fullest extent of my capabilities and file the paper-work. Once that’s done, I can leave you all to go about your lives and we can pretend that this never happened.”  


Alison watched as Pepper’s face softened slightly in understanding. It took a minute for Alison to remember that Pepper had once been a paper-pusher herself- she was probably remembering the pain that came from following procedures.  


“Very well, Ms Slater. I’ll see what I can do.”  


Pepper took out her phone and walked a few steps away.  


“Sam? It’s Pepper. Are you or Darcy free to come down to the conference room on five? There’s someone here to see you. No, she’s not a family member. No, the security check didn’t indicate any affiliations. Okay. Okay.”  


That sounded both ominous and sort of promising…  


“One of them will be down here soon; they’re just putting the babies down for a nap.”  
**  


She didn’t leave. Surely, someone as busy as Pepper Potts had something else she could be doing than waiting in a conference room for an employee?  


There was another ten minute wait before Alison heard voices coming down the corridor.  


When the door opened again, Alison watched as a tall, well-built man in a button-down and chinos opened the door for a shorter brunette woman wearing yoga pants and a loose t-shirt.  


“Morning Pepper. What’s going on?”  
Trying to get back some control, Alison stood and extended a hand to the new woman.  


“My name is Alison Slater from DCP. I’m here to investigate a claim of child endangerment against residents of the tower. Are you Darcy Lewis-Wilson?”  
From the corner of her eye, Alison saw the man frown and take up what she could only call a defensive stance by the door.  


“Who levelled the complaint? I have my suspicions, but I’d like confirmation.”  
“I’m sorry, but that information is confidential.”  


The woman- she assumed was Darcy given that she hadn’t introduced herself- snorted. “Of course it is.”  


“Right, then. What evidence was provided for the claim of ‘Child Endangerment’ against me and my husband?”  


Alison blinked. No-one had ever asked that before. Usually, she was met with flat denials or justifications for a particular action or event.  


“I-I’m not sure what you mean, Mrs Lewis-Wilson.”  


“I mean, Ms Slater, based on what grounds did this claim of child endangerment originate? What could I or my husband have done, in the two-weeks that my children have not been in my body that would be classified as child endangerment?”  


Alison was floored. The complaint date was from five weeks ago (there was a huge back-log). If it was true that the babies were only two-weeks old, then that would mean that someone was likely wasting her time with a spurious complaint. A second glance at Mrs Lewis-Wilson showed all the hall-marks of recent pregnancy and child-birth; distended abdomen, enlarged breasts, look of near-exhaustion.  


“I’m afraid that the complaint was rather non-specific.”  


“So, based on a non-specific complaint against a semi-public figure and his family, with no evidence to back it up, DCP sent you out here to, what? See if you could find evidence? See if I’d let someone I don’t know, have never met and claims to be from a government agency have access to my children?” Darcy’s tone was incredulous.  


“Now, that, Ms Slater, _would_ be child endangerment.”  


Alison had to concede her point. The world knew that Sam Wilson was an adjuvant member of the Avengers Initiative- there had to be a constant risk of kidnapping for them which explained the security.  


Darcy sat down next to her with a sigh. “I’m not angry with you Ms Slater. You’re just doing your job based on the information that you’re given. But here’s the thing. My mother-in-law doesn’t like me. She has been actively trying to sabotage my relationship with her son since we met and I wouldn’t put it past her to do something like this. I’m angry at her- it will break Sam’s heart to think that his own mother would actively try to hurt us this way.”  


“I never said that the complaint came from your mother-in-law.” Alison tried to salvage this meeting in some small way. Darcy’s reasoning was pretty sound; only someone who knew that she was pregnant in the first place would have made the claim that far in advance- she’d never seen anything on the news or gossip-sites about any of the Avengers having children.  


“You’re absolutely correct, you said that the complaint-maker was confidential.” Darcy smirked, “But it was really a matter of deductive reasoning; Loki is imprisoned on Asgard, AIM are more focused on Mr Stark’s technology these days, HYDRA are always a risk which is why you’re down here and all of the fan-groupies don’t even know that I was pregnant in the first place.” She shrugged. “Who else is left?”  


“Given your completely reasonable fears about letting strangers near your children, is there some way that I can see the living arrangements in order to complete the paper-work and close the complaint out?”  


“Sure.” She looked over the Pepper, who had been tapping at her phone the whole time. “Pep, can I borrow your tablet?”  


A few taps and swipes later, Alison was looking at what looked like a live-feed of a nursery. A glow-worm night-light provided ambient light enough to see the large crib and two sleeping babies. Both looked healthy and well-fed with no obvious bruising. The room was cozy and uncluttered; books neatly stacked in shelves dotted with soft-animals and a plush looking rocker/recliner in the corner. Another swipe showed the feed from what looked like the living room; there was some clutter on the coffee table, but it looked as though it was from a mid-morning tea and cookies, not squalor. Alison could see a man (presumably Sam Wilson) in the kitchen doing something. Yet another swipe turned off the feed.  


“Is that sufficient for your files, Ms Slater?” She heard the dismissal in Darcy’s tone.  


“Yes, it is Mrs Lewis-Wilson. I’m sorry to have taken your time this morning.”  


“No worries. I know that you’re just doing your job. It’s good to know that if there ever was a risk to my children that there are people like yourself to look out for them.” Darcy shook Alison’s hand and then turned to leave. “Have a nice day.”  


Ms Potts had also stood to leave. “Bentley will show you out, Ms Slater. Feel free to stop for complementary morning tea before you continue your day.”  
**  


Pepper caught up with Darcy and Steve at the elevator. Darcy had silent, angry tears running down her face and Steve had put a comforting arm around her shoulders.  


“I never thought that she’d stoop so low. What a bitch.”  


It was times like this that Pepper was glad that Howard and Maria were gone- as awful as that sounded. She would never have to deal with this type of disapproval.  


“Spa day tomorrow? The men can look after the babies while me, you, Natasha, Maria and Jane go get pampered?”  


Darcy sniffed and found a smile. “Sounds like a fantastic idea, Pepper. I’m in.”  


“Good. I’ll make the arrangements.”  
**  


Darcy let herself back into the suite and went straight to the nursery. Caleb and Jessica were lying next to each other, sleeping the sleep of innocence. No matter what her and Sam did to swaddle the babies, they always managed to wriggle an arm free of the blanket and reach for their twin. Darcy had a whole memory card of pictures of nothing but the two of them asleep, holding hands.  


She was hiding, putting of the inevitable chat with her husband.  


With a deep breath, Darcy summoned the courage that allowed her to taze a god and went to talk to Sam.  


“Sam?”  


“In the kitchen babe. Want something to drink?”  


She couldn’t help but smile- he was always so thoughtful. “Water is fine. Can you come and sit down? We need to talk.”  


“What’s up?” Sam sat as he handed over her water.  


“You’re not going to like this.” Darcy prefaced before launching into the events of the morning.  
**  


It was half past seven in the evening and Elliott was just sitting down to his TV dinner and the latest episode of ‘Rescue, 911’ when the phone rang. He thought Nancy would answer it, until he realised that she was at her bridge club meeting.  


“Hello?”  


_“Did you know?”_  


“Sam? It’s so good to hear from you! How have you been, son? How are my grandbabies?”  


_“Everyone is fine, Darcy is fine, the babies are fine, but I’m pissed off. Did you know?”_  


“Did I know what? What’s going on?”  


_“Mom called DCP on us, claiming child endangerment. Did you know that she was going to do that?”_  


Elliott swore under his breath. Blasted woman just couldn’t let it go- their son was happy with Darcy.  


“No, Sam. I didn’t know. I never thought she’d go that far.”  


Elliott heard Sam sigh. _“I didn’t think you did, but I had to know for sure. Dad, this is the final straw. She’s not welcome here, ever. I’m sorry that it has to come to this, I was really hoping that you could both be a part of our kids’ lives but if she comes near us or the babies, we’ll be getting a restraining order.”_  


Elliott couldn’t hold back the tears; because of his wife’s actions, she was never going to see her grandkids. And because he was still in love with the irrational woman in spite of everything, neither was he.  


“I understand, son. For what it’s worth, I think Darcy is amazing and absolutely right for you.”  


_“I do love you dad.”_  


“Good-bye son.” The finality of that broke his heart as the heard the phone click.


	4. Eight months later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rope continues to unravel...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's turned into a monster!!!... *Head-desk*. It's continuing.. there's another 10,000+ words on the way. Here's the fourth chapter, with at least one to two more (maybe more?) on the way (as soon as I finish it...?saturday maybe)

Stewed apples hit the wall and left little smears that resembled the images that you were more likely find on a Rorschach test.  
With a sigh, Sam wiped the apple ricochet from his eyebrow as Caleb giggled. Jessica, sitting in the high chair next to her brother’s, had a look on her face (if she were an adult and could say more than ‘Bah’) that could only be described as complete disdain at her brother’s actions.  
  
“Are you going to give me any trouble, Princess, or are you going to eat the apples that your brother is having more fun throwing around?”  
  
Sam’s only reply was a giggle and hand-clap from his daughter as she opened her mouth for the spoon.  
  
“There’s my good girl.” Scooping another spoonful of the apples and aiming it his son’s mouth, Sam spoke to the little boy. “See, Caleb, you could learn a lot from your sister.” His son obviously felt like co-operating with this spoonful and obligingly opened his mouth.  
  
This was a daily battle. Caleb, while he enjoyed his food normally, was equally likely to play with it as he was of actually eating it. Jessica, intense little thing that she was, would sit there, finish her food and then want to go and play. Caleb had a bit of a ‘Dory’ memory happening (Darcy’d made Sam watch Nemo on the reasoning that he’d be the one to explain the barracuda to the kids when the inevitable questions came up…)-he’d be doing something then something else would catch his attention and Caleb would abandon the first thing for the second. Clint found it endlessly amusing to offer a toy for Caleb to play with and then a few minutes start to play with a different toy, just to see the baby crawl to him.  
  
Jessica had inherited her Aunt Jane’s ability for single-minded focus; the only things that could distract her from whatever she was doing was her mother arriving back from work or food. Sam thought that Jess was going to be the first to walk- Caleb would be too distracted by the curtains flapping to work out how to put one foot in front of the other. At eight months old, they were both crawling and getting into everything- Darcy had insisted on putting child locks on all the cupboards to prevent unfortunate crushing with pots and pans or accidental poisoning with the cleaning products. There had been some grumbling at first (the damn things were hard for an ADULT to open), but when Sam had caught Caleb trying to open the cupboard with the blender in it, he’d bowed to the necessity of the infernal devices.  
  
There were times when he found it hard to believe that in only a few years, Sam had gone from hopeless bachelor trudging after a national icon to married with children. He wouldn’t change his situation for anything in the world though. Darcy was the light of his life. She kept him on his toes, amused him with witticisms and sharply insightful observations but most importantly, Darcy loved him and their children with every fibre of her being. The only thing that he would change if he could, was his young family’s relationship (or lack thereof) with his mother.  
  
Sam had no idea why his mother was the way that she was. He was almost one-hundred percent sure that there was nothing in her past that would have caused her to develop attachment issues (there was always a chance that there had been abuse, but it was unlikely that she’d ever tell him that) and he doubted sincerely that his dad had ever done anything that would make her doubt his devotion to her. So with all of his training in psychology (can’t be a Veteran’s councillor without it) and experience with odd behaviors, Sam didn’t know why his mother had felt the need to sabotage his relationships in the past and try to drive a wedge between him and Darcy; she’d always been a loving and understanding mom when he was growing up- there was nothing that he couldn’t tell her. But the minute he brought home his first girlfriend, she changed. It was like some switch had flipped and for the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.  
  
An annoyed pair of squawks from his kids drew Sam out of his introspection.  
  
“You done then guys?”  
  
Both of the babies made the sign that they wanted out and down. Sam had done some research into baby-sign language and convinced Darcy that it was a good idea to help prevent frustration induced baby melt-downs. Clint had been happy to help them all learn the bare-bones basics (hungry, tired, up, down, play, thirsty). As a result, Caleb and Jessica were a joy to take out into public.  
  
“Alrighty, squirts.” Sam spoke as he lifted them out one at a time. “We have time to play and have a nap before Mom gets home. What do you want to play with first? Blocks or puzzles?” Not really expecting a coherent answer beyond baby babbles, Sam settled the babies on the play mat with some toys and sat on the couch with files that needed to be reviewed before his clinic hours the next day.  
  
There had been some discussion between Sam and Darcy about child-care arrangements when it came time for them both to come off parental leave. They had mutually decided to be as hands on as they possibly could- neither Sam nor Darcy wanted their kids to be raised by non-family so they split the time. Caleb and Jessica had two days during the working week with Darcy, two days with Sam and the fifth day in the SI day-care so they could learn social skills and meet other kids. Weekends were sacred family time that saw them off to the zoo or with the rest of the Avengers and their families having picnics in the park. The arrangement worked well for the most part; it became a little tricky when Sam was called away to be ‘Falcon’, but they managed and the babies were still young enough that the occasional absence of their father didn’t cause them too much distress.  
  
Jessica was making noise at her Bucky Bear that might be called conversation (if you were feeling generous) when JARVIS interrupted his reading (to the delight of the twins- they loved to hear the AI talking).  
  
“Apologies, Mr Wilson. There is an individual at the Reception desk claiming to be your sister. Security is escorting the woman to the conference room on level five. They are requesting your presence as soon as you are able.”  
  
Swearing to himself under his breath (small, soon to be parrot, ears!), Sam put the file he was reading down on the coffee table.  
  
“Is anyone free to come and watch the kids, Jarvis? It’ll take too long to get them to the day care and Darcy is stuck in meetings all day.”  
  
“One moment, sir. I will check.” Sam looked around to find his shoes while Jarvis was searching for a baby-sitter. “Agent Romanova is on her way, Mr Wilson. She will be at the door in two-point-three minutes.”  
  
Smiling at the AI’s precision, Sam couldn’t help but be relieved that it was Nat coming down- if the visitor turned out to be a covert attack, the kids would be safe. The only way that they’d be safer was if Thor took them to Asgard.  
  
A tap on the door was all the warning he got before Natasha walked through the door and dropped to the play mat in front of the babies. Squeals of delight at seeing one of their favourite people filled the air and made both adults smile. It was the only time that Sam ever saw the assassin relax and ‘soften’.  
  
“Thanks for coming Nat. I shouldn’t be too long. They’ve both eaten and will probably drop off for a nap pretty soon.”  
  
“Yes, yes. Go now. We will be fine, won’t we my kittens?” Natasha waved an elegant hand in dismissal. Squeals and giggles followed Sam out of the door.  
  
If it all did turn to shit, at least he was sent off to the sound of his children being happy.  
**  
  
The security guard nodded at him as they saw Sam approach the conference room and opened the door.  
  
There was a woman sitting at the table, hunched over a steaming cup of something- it looked as though she was either trying to merge with the warmth of the cup or was using all her will-power to not vomit. The woman looked up as the door opened and an expression of relief washed over her face.  
  
Sam had never seen his sister look so dejected before. Sarah had always been the bright and bouncy one growing up; she was an eternal optimist and could find the bright side to any situation. To see her like this; sad almost defeated and pale under her normal mocha complexion… There was something that was making her so not herself...  
  
Sam’s ‘oh shit’ alarm was screaming in the back of his mind.  
  
“Sarah. What’s happened?”  
  
His sister stood, and in between blinks, Sarah was flying into his arms with a strangled cry. Sam managed to wrap his arms around her back before her knees gave out and she began to sob. Training with the likes of Thor and Steve had improved Sam’s physical strength and stamina, but even he couldn’t stay standing with a sudden dead-weight of distraught female hanging off his neck. Sinking to the floor, Sam began rocking his sister and made soothing nonsense noises in an effort to calm her down.  
  
“Sarah, baby, talk to me. What’s happened?” Sam tried again as Sarah calmed to sniffles.  
  
“It’s dad. He’s divorcing mom.”  
  
Sam frowned. He hadn’t seen that coming.  
  
“Ok. It’s sad that they’re splitting up, but that doesn’t explain why you’re reacting like this or why you’re here when a phone call would have sufficed. What else has happened?”  
  
Sarah stared at him for a moment before glancing over at the security guard who’d popped his head in when the noise of Sarah’s sobs reached him.  
  
“Can we go somewhere else? This discussion should stay in-family.”  
  
Nodding, Sam helped his sister off the floor before brushing down his pants.  
  
“Security will have to search you before you come up. Where’s your stuff?”  
  
“I don’t have anything- only my purse.” Sarah pointed to the seat where she had been sitting before Sam came in and the purse hanging off the back.  
  
This was getting weirder and weirder. Sarah lived in DC, not far from their folks. Even for a day trip, Sarah had always been the sort to pack at least one change of clothes and shoes as well as toiletries in a separate bag. It was possible that Sarah had stashed something easily foldable in her purse (it was the size of an A4 page- Sam had seen Darcy shove more into smaller-the strange phenomena that was the female purse continued to amaze and scare him) but it didn’t fit with what he knew of his sister.  
  
Sam gestured to the security guard to come in to do the security check- it would only be cursory as Jarvis would have done a more comprehensive scan before contacting him to come down.  
**  
  
On the elevator trip up to the suite, Sam sent messages to both Nat (it wouldn’t do to surprise the assassin with an unknown person while she was watching the kids- she tended to maim first and ask questions later) and Darcy.  
  
His wife replied almost straight away wanting to know what was going on. Sam decided to call rather than message- unlike Darcy, who could tap out an essay within seconds, Sam was a clumsy sms-er.  
  
“Hi Darce. I don’t know what’s going on yet. Any chance you could duck out of whatever you’re doing and meet us in the apartment?”  
  
_“My next meeting was cancelled, so I was just catching up on paperwork. I’ll be there soon.”_  
  
“Love you.”  
  
He could hear her smiling as she returned the sentiment and hung up.  
  
Sarah was staring at him. “What?”  
  
“I’m glad you’re happy, Sam.” Sarah sounded so sad. It made Sam worry even more.  
  
“I’m definitely happy, Sare-bear,” the child-hood nick-name slipped out before he could catch himself. “Something tells me that you’re not, though.”  
  
Sarah sighed as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened to the floor that he and Darcy shared with Thor and Jane.  
  
“I’m not. At least, not right at this moment.”  
  
Sam slung an arm around his sister’s shoulder as he guided her to the apartment.  
  
“Come on in, Sis. I’ll make you a coffee while we wait for Darcy.”  
  
“Any chance I can get a rain-check on the coffee and grab a shower instead? Maybe borrow some sweats? I’m all grubby from the trip.”  
  
“Sure. I’ll see what I can find. Help yourself to the fridge while I grab something for you to wear.”  
  
“Thanks, Sam.”  
  
Sam pointed Sarah to the kitchen while he went to the bedroom. A quick detour to the nursery to check on his children found Natasha sitting in the rocker-glider while the twins napped in their cots. The naked blade in her lap indicated that she was still willing to play baby-sitter/guard-dog while Sarah was here. At least until he asked her to stand down.  
  
By the time he returned to the kitchen with a pair of Darcy’s yoga pants and an old service t-shirt, Sam found Sarah sitting on the couch with her head in her hands and a glass of water next to his files on the coffee table. She looked exhausted.  
  
Sam called her name softly, just in case she’d managed to doze off while waiting for him. “Sarah.” She looked up from her hands and Sam could see the tear tracks running down her face and the defeat in her eyes.  
  
“Here you are. I’ll show you to the guest room and shower.” Sarah grabbed her purse as she stood and went to follow Sam, confirming his earlier suspicions that she had managed to stash either some fresh undergarments (which he refused to think about, because, ew- the only underwear he wanted to think about were Darcy’s.) or some toiletries in the bag before coming to see him.  
  
“Darcy should be back by the time you get out and we can discuss what brought you here.”  
  
Sarah nodded to indicate that she’d heard as she shuffled after him. Sam had seen day-old bodies while serving as para-rescue that had more energy than his sister was currently displaying. He wandered back to the kitchen and put the coffee on anyway- Sarah would probably want some when she got out of the shower and Darcy was always willing to have a caffeine jolt.  
**  
  
Darcy had been surprised when Sam told her that his sister had unexpectedly turned up at the tower. She hadn’t seen Sarah since the Christmas where they announced the twin’s imminent arrival. There had been the occasional e-mail and message going between the two of them- mostly pictures of the twins and perfunctory check-ins, but nothing to indicate that things were bad enough to suddenly need to flee to New York.  
  
Darcy liked Sarah- she’d always been kind to Darcy during the disastrous meetings with Sam’s mom and had been genuinely thrilled at the idea of being an Aunty. They weren’t very close though- distance made it hard to cultivate a deeper relationship. Darcy wasn’t opposed to becoming true friends with Sarah- Sam adored his older sister and she’d never wanted to be the cause of a total split between Sam and his family. If there was any way to repair the cracks in the sibling’s relationship, then she was all for it and would do everything she could to facilitate any repairs.  
  
Despite the upset, Darcy was glad to be done at the office for the day. She missed her kids. Sure, she was only at work three days a week, but that wasn’t the point. Her babies were her world and being away from them for even an hour made her feel all kinds of guilt. It was irrational, but it felt as though they changed and grew every time she turned her back. She didn’t want to miss anything.  
  
As soon as she stepped into the apartment, she kicked off her heels and dumped her lap-top by the hall stand. Leaving the items in a pile, she added her jacket to the stack (just because she could) and went to find her husband. Sam was in the kitchen tending to a fresh pot of coffee. Darcy couldn’t help but inhale his scent- old spice, apples and something that was just ‘Sam’ as she wrapped her arms around his waist from behind to hug him close.  
  
Humming under her breath, Darcy whispered “Hello, sexy.”  
  
“Hello yourself.” Sam turned around to return the hug. He couldn’t help but hold on to her for a bit longer. It felt like things were spiralling out of control and he didn’t know what to do.  
  
“Sarah should be out of the shower soon, providing she hasn’t fallen asleep in there.” Sam tightened his hold on Darcy quickly before releasing back to a normal hug. “I’ve never seen her so down, Darce. I don’t know what’s been happening, but it can’t be anything good.”  
  
Darcy unhooked one of her arms to run a hand over his face. Sam leaned into her touch and sighed.  
  
“We’ll figure it out, Sam. We’re a team, as well as family.”  
  
“I know Darcy.” Sam nodded and bent down to press a quick kiss to her lips. “Nat’s here. She’s watching over the kids.”  
  
“I’ll go get changed and check on everything. How long until the coffee is ready?”  
  
“About two minutes? Don’t get caught up staring at the babies.”  
  
Darcy stuck her tongue out at Sam before moving away. That happened once. Maybe twice. Okay, fine, she’d lost time staring at her babies more than a few times when they’d been expected at a function. She couldn’t help it though- they were so cute. Not that she was biased or anything…  
  
Caleb must have woken up at some point- Natasha had him resting against her chest as he sucked on his fist while she rocked on the chair. She was going to have to get Jarvis to grab a still for her from the security camera- that image was just too adorable to miss being immortalised. “Hey Nat. Thanks for stopping in.”  
  
“Any time.”  
  
“Everything ok?” Darcy nodded at the baby in the assassin’s arms.  
  
“Yes. I just wanted a cuddle.” The look she threw at Darcy warned against telling anyone that.  
  
“Your secret is safe with me, Nat.” She smiled. “Sam has some coffee brewing if you want it.”  
  
“Maybe later.”  
  
Darcy went to leave the nursery but stopped and turned back. “You know, you don’t need the excuse of an emergency baby-sitting situation to come and visit the babies- they love you, we love you and you will always be welcome here.”  
  
Natasha returned Darcy’s smile. “I know, Dashyenka.”  
  
“Okay then. I’m gonna go get changed and then try to sort out the latest family drama.”  
  
“I’ll be here.”  
**  
  
Sam and Sarah were sitting at the kitchen table with coffee and cookies and talking quietly when Darcy came in from the bedroom. Her sister-in-law did not look well.  
Unsure of her reception with Sarah, Darcy went with a milder greeting that she usually did- no hugs were involved.  
  
“Hello, Sarah. Long-time no see.”  
  
Startled out of her conversation, Sarah looked up, blinked and smiled weakly. “Hi Darcy.”  
  
“So, Sam tells me that there has been a bit of drama. What’s the story?”  
  
Sarah sighed, looked at Sam- who smiled encouragingly, and began to speak.  
  
“Mom has gone nuts.” Darcy made a small noise of encouragement while privately thinking ‘duh’.  
  
Sam, ever the consummate professional, waited for Sarah to continue. Darcy could tell that he was suppressing a mini-lecture on the use of the word ‘nuts’ in conversation- he’d made the same face early in their relationship when she’d misused ‘psycho’ when describing something that Jane had done. Darcy had quickly learned to modify her vocabulary.  
  
“What do you mean, she’s gone ‘nuts’?” Sam asked when Sarah didn’t expand on her original statement after some time had passed.  
  
She sighed.


	5. Sarah's Story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the story continues...

“About a week after you called to tell Dad about her calling DCP on you both, she started to get weird. Mom would shut herself in the study with the lights off and he could hear her muttering at no-one. From what Dad told me, Mom would sometimes shout out random words or he’d hear things breaking.” Sarah paused to take a sip of her coffee.  
“At least once a week, she’d go on a rant about the two of you and how Darcy had messed up our family,” Darcy flinched and blinked back sudden tears. Sarah noticed.  
“Sorry Darcy. She’d go on and on about how your kids would end up either dead or turn out to be juvenile delinquents or something.”  
Sam was frowning as he reached out to take his wife’s hand. There was no way that his kids would end up delinquents- Darcy’d ground ‘em at the first sign of trouble.  
“Dad finally had enough of her behaviour about a month ago and started the process to get a divorce and when the papers came through yesterday morning, he confronted her…”  
~  
 _Sarah was sitting at the table and picking at her cuticles. It was a habit that she’d tried to overcome as she was growing up but still did when she was nervous. Dad had asked her to come by before work to discuss some things while Mom was at her morning exercise class._  
  
 _When dad had told her that he was filing for divorce from her mom, Sarah was only partly surprised. Things had been bad between her parents ever since Sam and Darcy had cut ties with them- Dad just seemed sad all the time while mom became more and more unhinged. She was constantly monitoring where Dad went and what he was doing, she was always asking who he was with and when he’d be back. It had gotten to the point where he just refused to go out any more._  
  
 _Whatever was going on in Mom’s head that was causing her to act the way that she was, it had killed Dad’s love for her- slowly but surely. And it was also killing her dad. He used to be jovial. He used to be the life of the party and always had a quip or groan-worthy joke ready to go. Now, it was like he was fading, being washed out by the continual stress of dealing with her mother. Maybe this divorce was for the best; though it was sad that nearly forty years of marriage was being cancelled, it might give them both a chance to be happy again._  
  
 _The sound of her Mom’s car door shutting sounded louder than usual. Either that or Sarah was just more aware of it._  
  
 _Her mom’s foot-steps came closer and closer to the kitchen._  
~  
  
  
“When he told her that he’d filed for the divorce… Sam, I swear, I’ve never been that scared before. Mom just had this crazy look in her eyes- almost as though she was possessed.”  
  
“What happened then, Sarah?” Sam’s tone was coaxingly gentle.  
  
“Mom lost it. She started throwing pots and pans at the both of us. When she ran out of those, she started on the plates and glasses. Mom was either aiming at Dad, or she got in a lucky throw with one of the side-dishes, ‘cause one minute he was dodging and the next he was laid out on the floor.”  
~  
  
 _Sarah ducked as the first pan clanged like a gong against the wall, narrowly missing her head before clattering to the floor._  
  
 _It was swiftly followed by a pot and its corresponding lid, then the cast iron skillet, another pan and a trivet. Dad had managed to dodge all of them so far, all the while standing in front of Sarah as a physical barrier and trying to talk her mom down. It wasn’t working. If anything, dad trying to get her to stop pitching stuff at them was making her Mom even more aggravated._  
  
 _The first plate, coming at them like a demented Frisbee, was also dodged and it shattered against the door frame to the lounge room. Dad had given up on trying to calm his soon-to-be-ex and was beginning to herd Sarah out of the kitchen and out of range of her mom’s throws._  
  
 _Between one blink and the next, Dad had gone from standing to lying on the ground next to a shattered side plate. His forehead and the skin over one of his ears began bleeding._  
  
 _Ducking down to check his pulse, Sarah had a brief moment of relief- the steady thrum of her Dad’s heart-beat flicked against her fingers, then there was a sudden flash of blinding pain at the back of her head and Sarah didn’t remember anything else._  
~  
Darcy decided that alcohol was warranted at this point. Standing, Darcy walked over to the freezer and took out the vodka- it had been a ‘Congratulations, you’ve spawned!’ gift from Natasha.  
  
As Darcy cracked the seal on the lid (she wasn’t breast feeding anymore, so she could now enjoy the odd tipple) she poured out some shots for the three of them as Sarah kept speaking.  
  
“When I came to, it was getting dark. Dad was still passed out but breathing and Mom was at the door talking to the police. From what I managed to overhear, one of the neighbours called in a domestic disturbance but Mom somehow convinced them that it was just a really loud movie.”  
Sarah was starting to cry again. Darcy handed her a napkin.  
  
“I wanted to call out to them, Sam. I wanted to scream for help, but I couldn’t move. I think that whatever it was that hit me, caused some kind of temporary paralysis. I could only blink and breathe, and stare at Dad and hope that Mom didn’t realise that I was awake.”  
~  
 _Sarah was able to move a finger as the door shut behind the departing police._  
  
 _Dad was lying on the floor beside her- providence ensuring that they were facing each other._  
  
 _Closing her eyes to feign unconsciousness once again, Sarah strained her ears, listening to where her mother was in the house. Sounds of the creaking bed and swishing of the bedclothes followed by the sound of the t.v. meant that her mom was in bed. It was time to leave. Dad in tow; wether he liked it or not._  
  
 _It took some work, but Sarah managed to get herself and her dad up and mobile enough to stumble out of the house and to Sarah’s car- thankfully, she’d managed to park on the street when she’d first arrived, so her car wasn’t blocked in. they were soon on their way to the hospital for her dad- that long unconscious was not a good thing._  
~  
“When we go to the hospital and told the staff what had happened, they were concerned. The doctors must have called the police.” Sarah was spinning the still full shot glass between her fingers- as though she needed something to fiddle with to keep from falling apart.  
  
“We’re pressing assault and domestic violence charges against mom, or at least I am. Dad wasn’t quite coherent enough to make a final decision. The detective that came was also muttering about adding other charges related to the fact that she left us both unconscious for so long without calling for medical attention.”  
  
Sam was stunned. Sarah had mentioned that she had been becoming increasingly less stable-but he’d never suspected that she’d get to this point. The less rational part of his mind wondered if it was his fault.  
  
“So, what’s going to happen now, Sarah?” Darcy asked as Sam kept trying to wrap his mind around the situation.  
  
“The hospital is keeping dad for another twenty-four hours for observation and a few more scans. After that, they’ll discharge him. Hopefully, the restraining order that the police filed for us will be in effect and we can get an escort to the house to get his stuff- dad can stay with me until all of this gets sorted.”  
  
Darcy was staring directly at Sarah, thinking about convincing her saner in-laws that staying with them in the tower was a better option, when she saw Sarah go ashen and sway in her seat. Darcy was on her feet before she realised, wrapping her arm around the other woman’s shoulders to stop her face-planting on the table.  
  
“Sarah, when you were at the hospital, did you let the staff look at you as well?”  
  
Sam snapped out of his thoughts and focused on his sister.  
  
“No. I was more worried about Dad.” Sarah’s voice was notably weaker and slightly slurred.  
  
Sam started swearing. Colourfully.  
  
“That’s not helpful, Sam.” Darcy scolded. “Get her on the couch.”  
  
As Sam picked up his sister, Darcy called out to Jarvis, “Jarvis, please alert medical and have them come to the suite. Also, can you please do a full scan of Sarah- paying attention to her head and neck, and forward the data to the Doc who’s going to be looking after her. Let them know the basics of the information leading to the injury so they can do a proper assessment and not pester her with redundant questions.” Darcy may have been a bit bitter about the history gathering skills of medical staff…  
  
“Done, Mrs Wilson. Medics will be to your suite in approximately one minute.”  
  
“Let them in when they get here J.”  
  
Almost as soon as they stopped speaking, the suite door opened to show two of the tower’s EMTs towing a gurney. With brisk efficiency, Sarah was set up with a saline IV, transferred to the gurney and was having a pen light shone in her eyes. Darcy heard Sam muttering to himself; that he should have stopped the story to assess his sister as soon as he heard about the head injury- some para-rescuer he was.  
  
“Stop berating yourself, Sam. Everything that she told us led us to assume that she’d been checked already. Besides, you know that symptoms of concussion don’t always manifest straight away.” Darcy rubbed her hand up and down his back in an effort to comfort.  
  
Sam sighed and flicked his glance away from the EMTs to look at his wife. “I know, Darce, but this whole day has been a level of surreal that is normally reserved for doom-bots. I’m feeling a bit slow on the uptake.”  
  
Darcy pressed a kiss to his cheek as the EMTs were getting ready to move Sarah to the medical ward. “Go with them and keep Sarah company. I’ll touch base with the hospital in DC and see how your dad is then meet you in medical.”  
  
“Thank-you, Darcy. I love you.”  
  
“Duh. Now, shoo.”  
**  
Before she got on the phone to DC, Darcy popped back in to the Nursery to check on Natasha and the babies.  
  
Caleb and Jessica were both working on bottles while the assassin watched. Darcy had no clue how she managed to miss Natasha sneak past everyone sitting in the kitchen, warm the bottles in the warmer (also in the kitchen) and sneak back to the nursery to feed her children without even being noticed. Darcy refused to think about Nat’s skill set- it would give her a headache trying to figure out all of the ‘how’s’ for what Natasha was capable of.  
  
“Everything ok in here, Aunt Nat?” Darcy whispered as she peered around the door- if the babies noticed their mother, Darcy wouldn’t be able to get anything done until they were asleep again.  
  
“All is well. I overhead much of the conversation and took the liberty of contacting the detective in charge of the case against your mother-in-law. They will be seeking to extend the restraining order to cover New York as well as DC. Your sister- and father-in-law will be safe here.”  
  
Darcy smiled. “Thanks, Nat. You’ve saved me a lot of leg work.”  
  
Natasha shrugged elegantly, “I was bored. It was no trouble.”  
  
“Still. Thanks must be given. As a reward, you may now spend some more time with my children.”  
  
“Oh, may I? You’re too generous.”  
  
“Careful, Nat. Your sarcasm is showing.”  
  
Natasha smirked and made a shooing motion with her hand. “Be gone, pest. I wish to spoil your children.”  
**  
With Natasha having dealt with the police for her, the conversation with her father-in-law’s doctor at the hospital went relatively smoothly and with minimal bureaucracy.  
  
After explaining the current situation (as well as some mild shouting about the A&E staff not insisting that Sarah be checked out), Darcy had managed to secure assurances that Elliott will be discharged into the care of her and Sam for the remainder of his recovery.  
  
A second call to Pepper and Tony has a firm promise that Darcy will be escorted to the hospital in DC with one of the nursing staff to collect Elliott. Pepper also threw in a Lawyer to make sure that all of the legalities that both brought them to this point and had arisen since, would be dealt with, with no chance for contestation by Sam’s mom.  
  
She’d wait to talk to Sam about getting Elliott’s and Sarah’s belongings from the house; there was every chance that he’d want to go with her to DC to get his Dad. If that was the case they’d need to see if they could get the kids’ day at day care swapped to tomorrow- if not then hopefully one of their friends would be willing to baby-sit.  
**  
Sarah was hooked up to a variety of monitoring machines and was wearing a neck-brace when Darcy made her way to the Medical wing. Was Sarah more injured than they originally thought?  
  
Sam had one hand tangled with his sister’s and appeared to be dozing in the chair. Darcy was reluctant to wake him- he’d had a lot to process in the last few hours, and the next few days promised to be anything but restful. They needed to talk though, so Darcy made a soft noise to draw his attention.  
  
“Hey, baby. What’s the verdict?”  
  
Sam sighed, looking dejected.  
  
“The docs are being cautious. They’re waiting for the CT to warm up before taking her for scans.”  
  
A raised eyebrow from Darcy prompted Sam to elaborate.  
  
“Based on what Sarah said happened, the transitory paralysis and the fact that she was unconscious for a few hours without being seen to- the docs are worried that she might have some bruising around her brain and spinal cord. The CT is a first step until they can get her to Cedars tomorrow for an MRI- just in case the CT isn’t detailed enough.  
So for tonight, they’re keeping her sedated so she doesn’t jar anything more than she already has.”  
  
“Cautious is good, Sam. It means that they aren’t fooling around.”  
  
Sam pulled Darcy into his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, burying his head into her hair.  
  
“How did it come to this, Darcy? They were so happy for so long and now Mom’s throwing shit and knocking out the people who care about her. Or at least they used to care about her.”  
  
“I don’t know, Sam. But you’re going to have to let someone else be the lead for your Mom’s treatment and diagnosis and go with their plan. You’re too close to be objective.”  
  
“I know.” Sam took a shuddering breath.  
  
The clock and heart monitor provided a meditative counter-point of noise as Sam and Darcy sat at Sarah’s bed-side, staring into the distance.  
  
The clattering of the catering carts snapped them both out of their introspection. A glance at the clock showed that it was already after five. The kids needed their bath and bottles, and Darcy didn’t know about Sam, but she hadn’t eaten since breakfast.  
  
“Come on Sam.” Darcy stood and held out a hand to him. “Let’s head back to the apartment, hug our kids and talk about the plan for tomorrow.”


End file.
